


Priority: Valentine's Day

by Kate_Shepard, potionsmaster



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Domestic Fluff, Each chapter is a new pairing or universe, F/M, Family, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mindoir, Mindoir raid, No Incest, No Multi, Not Canon Compliant, Romance, Valentine's Day, Werewolves, mShenko, no poly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-30 03:51:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17821337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kate_Shepard/pseuds/Kate_Shepard, https://archiveofourown.org/users/potionsmaster/pseuds/potionsmaster
Summary: A collection of pairings and the various ways Shepard & Co. celebrate Valentine's Day.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some holiday fluff because we need smiles. And baby butts. And some German, because Mark ~potions
> 
> Chapter 1 has spoilers for the Unbreakable universe and will eventually be assimilated into it, once we've got it finished. We've been on a bit of a hiatus lately due to personal issues, but wanted to do something special for V Day. Better late than never. ~Jake (fka Kate_Shepard. See tumblr for details.)

Rating: T for language, since it’s Mark.  You know there’s gotta be swearing. And innuendo.  I am literally incapable of not making dirty jokes ~potions

 

~*~*~*~

 

“ _Vat_ are you doing to my _grand_ child?”

Mark paused, red and pink paint smeared over his arms and shirt as he held the squirming baby at arm’s length.  “Uhhh… art project.” His ears turned as red as the paint covering the baby’s bottom. “ _Hallo, Vati[1]_ … didn’t know you were standin’ there…”

The older man snorted and peeled himself off the door frame, entering the kitchen.   _“Du und deine Kunst[2],_ heh.  Shame you didn’t actually pursue it more in school.  You had talent.” Mark pursed his lips and focused on wrangling the redheaded darling wriggling in his hands, smearing more paint on his forearms.  “So? Vat’s dis?” Markus peered at the paper and paint covered countertop, standing next to his son and granddaughter.

“Uh.  It’s… kinda stupid, really,” Mark grunted, carefully placing Hannah’s paint-clad buns on a blank spot on the paper as he furrowed his brow in concentration.  “There’s a Terran tradition, I think? ‘Valentine’s Day.’ Basically an excuse to be sappy ‘n spoil the shit-” Markus shot him a dirty look “- _scheisse[3[-”_ another dirty look from his father “-crap?  I don’t fuckin’... She’s not even a _year_ , Vati, she ain’t gonna remember it. Right, Hannah-boo?” His daughter gurgled happily, slapping tiny pink hand prints over his forearms.  “That’s right. See? She agrees with me. Anyway. Um. It’s all hearts and romance and doin’ things for the people you care about the most in your life, and you know Kate.  She eats that shi-uh. _Stuff_ , up.”  Markus nodded in approval at the word substitution.  “So I’m tryin’ to do this thing I saw on one of those crafty-type-deal extranet sites about makin’ hearts out of baby butt prints.  You can see exactly how well that’s goin’.”

“Mm,” his father grunted noncommittally.  “Perhaps shaping ze paint more on her rear would help?”

Mark sighed, placing Hannah on another blank spot and letting her slap pink around her.  “Maybe. I dunno. It was a stupid idea, I probably shouldn’t’ve even attempted it.”

“Thought that counts,” Markus said, brow furrowing to mirror his son’s.   _“Deine Mutter[3]_ would have loved sometink like zat; shame I didn’t tink of it.  Vat if you took ze idea and changed it a little?”

“Mm?”

Markus took one of Mark’s hands and coated it in red paint.  “Zere. Go ahead.” He pointed to a new piece of paper. Mark chewed on his lower lip and gingerly pressed his hand on the paper.   _“Gut.[4]_  Now.”  He carefully batted away his son’s hand and pressed Hannah’s pink hand on top of it.  “Sign your names, frame it, and I vant one, too.”

“Smooth, _Vati_.  Real smooth.”

“You’re velcome.”

“You missed a spot.”

“Oh?”

Mark smeared red on his father’s nose.  “Got it for ya.”

_“Aie! Mark Andrew!”_

The younger man chuckled as his father good-naturedly griped and wiped at the paint, effectively smearing it across his own cheek.

“What in the hel— _world_ is going on here?” Kate asked, walking into the room and taking in the scene with an expression that turned from bemused curiosity to near-hysterical laughter in a matter of seconds. “Oh, goddess of ever-loving oceans, what are you two doing?”

“Blame _him_ ,” Markus grumbled, dabbing at the paint on his face with a wet paper towel.  “Hare-brained scheme. ‘Valentines’.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”  Mark flattened his red palm on another blank spot.  “Got another one. C’mere, babe. Put the white on your palm, put it on top o’ the one I just made?”  He snagged the paper towel from his father and wiped Hannah’s hand off before refreshing the pink on it.

Kate blinked at them. “Valentines,” she repeated, still laughing. “ _You_ are doing _Valentines_? Now I have seen everything. I assume that’s why our daughter’s as-bottom is covered in red paint?” Markus quirked an eyebrow at her.  “Hey, I’m _trying_ to watch my mouth, Vati. It’s a hard habit to break.” She went to Hannah and rubbed the tips of their noses together, making the baby giggle. “Isn’t it, _vita mia[5]_?” Her lips quirked as she applied white paint to her own hand and pressed it over Mark’s much larger print. “Big, bad Reaper killers. That’s us.”

Her father-in-law simply shook his head, huffing a laugh.  “Not like I can say much. I tried to not do it _auf Englisch, stattdessen auf Deutsch[6]-”_

 _“-Siehst du wie gut das verdammte für dich funktioniert hat, Vati?”[7]_  Markus rolled his eyes and scoffed.  “Heh. C’mon, now. You can’t tell me you’re surprised by that.”  Mark hip-checked his wife and placed their daughter’s freshly pinked hand over the white hand print.   _“Ausgeziechnet[8]_ , baby.  You made it better.  And see? Mix us together, look what we get.”  He hitched Hannah up on his hip, forgetting until the red butt print appeared on his shirt. _“Verdammte[9]…”_

Markus started cackling in glee as he collected his granddaughter up, holding her at arm’s length.   _“Komm her, Süßemaus[10]._ Let’s get _du_ cleaned up, eh?”  He carried her towards the bathroom.  “I vill leave the kitchen to you, Mark. _Tschüss[11]._ ”

“Wait,” Kate said, gesturing him over. “It’s supposed to be the family, right? Which means it needs Opa; doesn’t it, Hannah-boo?” The baby gurgled happily in his arms. “See? She agrees.”

The older man paused, ears turning as pink as the baby’s hands at being called ‘Opa’.  “Oh?”

Kate held up the jar of red paint and offered it to him. “It’s not complete yet. It needs you, too.”

He came back over and deposited Hannah on Mark’s hip again, making another red smear on his son’s shirt. “...I am almost frightened.  Hand? Or…” he teased, gesturing to Hannah’s rear. Mark laughed.

Kate snickered, opening up the jar again and looking into it. “I don’t think we have enough paint for that,” she shot back. “Gonna have to go with the hand.”  The older man held it out for her palm up.

 _“Gott sei Dank,[12]”_ he chuckled as she applied the paint.  

Mark snorted himself, shifting Hannah to the other hip, leaving a stripe over his stomach.  “Better ways to get a red ass than that, _Vati."_

His father didn’t bat an eye, just reached out with the fresh paint on his hand and smeared Mark’s cheek.  “Go wash your mouth out,” he smirked and gave his hand back to Kate to fix the paint.

“Oh. My. Gods,” she sputtered, applying a fresh coat of paint to her father-in-law’s hand. “Mark, I—you—go wash your damn mouth out.”

“Yes, dear,” he replied, sitting Hannah next to the sink as he pulled off his shirt and washed his hands and face.  The baby grabbed the shirt and smacked pink over the red paint marks.

“Your shirt’s going to end up being a Valentine all its own,” she said as Markus added his  handprint at an angle next to theirs, space between Mark’s hand and his making a heart. “Perfect.”

“Almost,” Mark came back over, brow furrowed in concentration.  He put fresh pink on Hannah’s other hand and placed it carefully over Markus’.   _“Now_ it is.”

Markus pursed his lips and froze a moment with tears in his eyes before bumping Kate with his shoulder and whispering,  _“...Familie ist alles.  Danke.[13]”_

 _“Bitte[14]_ ,” she replied softly.

 

~*~*~*~

 

That night, with Hannah sleeping soundly in her crib in the next room and Markus having retired an hour or so before, Kate slipped into their bedroom where Mark was lying on his back with a hand propping his head, and crawled up his body. When she was on all fours above him, she dropped a kiss onto his nose.

“Mark Shepard,” she said with an affectionate grin. “If somebody had told me the day I first saw you in Rio that the big, tall, sexy, badass motherfucker who gave me _the_ most dismissive once-over I’ve ever received in my entire life was not only going to end up the father of my child, but that I’d find him making Valentine’s cards of her butt prints in red paint, I’d have shot them for being insane.”

“Heart you, too, babycakes,” he grinned back and moved his hands to cup her hips, using a phrase they’d tossed back and forth between them as battle buddies years before at ICT.  “What can I say, you bring it outta me.”

“I saved all of them,” she said, sliding her hands beneath his shirt, feeling the planes and ridges of his torso. “She does have kind of a heart-shaped butt. I never would have thought of that. Which means you did think of a holiday you’ve never really been exposed to and went looking for ideas to make our first one as a family special. And that…” She ducked her head and trailed kisses up the side of his neck. “...deserves something special in return.”

“Is. That. _So…”_ he replied, voice dropping with every word and smoothing his palms over her ass cheeks, tipping his head to the side to give her room.  “...’m I _actually_ gonna get a red ass tonight?  I’m ok with it if that’s the plan.”

“Mmph. You just might,” she murmured, nipping at his skin. “Love you, big guy.”

“Love you, too, little girl.  Happy Valentine’s day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] Hi, Dad  
> [2] You and your art  
> [3] Your mother  
> [4] Good  
> [5] My life  
> [6] in English, instead in German  
> [7] Do you see how well that fucking worked for you, Dad?  
> [8] Excellent  
> [9] Dammit  
> [10] Come here, sweetmouse  
> [11] Bye  
> [12] Thank God  
> [13] Family is everything. Thank you


	2. MShenko: Going Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the Reapers took out all of the hormone suppressant facilities, (Alpha) Jake Shepard and (omega) Kaidan were faced with a choice. Rather than risking dangerous medications from the Terminus Systems, they went through Kaidan's heat together, telling themselves that it was a one-time thing. A few months later, and they've stopped telling each other that. But can two people who've lost everything learn to open up and trust in both each other and the future again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This story is part of our WIP A/b/o universe, Snapshots, which will be posted as soon as it's finished. Jake is mine (of course), Kaidan is Potions'. This chapter is mostly SFW. Also, Jake's first language is Russian. Apologies if I botch it. It's been awhile since I've spoken it.

Jake cursed as a thorn pricked his finger and tried to ignore the way the wound knit closed before more than the tiniest drop of blood could form on it. At least Kaid wasn’t here to see it. They’d gotten past most of Kaidan’s suspicions about Jake’s time with Cerberus, but he still worried that something small like that would kick them up again for the major. Today was absolutely not the day he wanted that to happen.

It was Valentine’s Day on Earth. They hadn’t had the holiday on Mindoir, but he’d learned about it when he’d been fostered on Earth after the raid. His mate, Seth, had used any excuse to celebrate, which was why Jake had gotten a teddy bear holding a cupcake and fistful of streamers tattooed on his hip as a memorial for him when he’d died on Akuze. It had always been an important holiday to Seth, if not to Jake, and he’d avoided it since Seth’s death. Now, though, he had Kaidan to share it with, and Kaid desperately needed a celebration.

He’d decided Seth wouldn’t mind Jake channeling him a bit for ideas. He’d loved all sorts of celebrations, formal or informal, joyous or intimate, planned or impromptu. But when it had come to gestures, Seth’s motto had been “Go big or go home.” Well, this time, Jake wanted to do both. Their mission to Eden Prime to retrieve what had turned out to be a Prothean and his conversation with Kaid about the changes to Mindoir had sparked a longing in him. Kaid was right. It wasn’t the same. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t still his home and that it couldn’t be rebuilt. It was time for Jake to take a step in that direction. It was that decision which had led him to his current predicament.

“Commander, what are you doing to my shuttle?” The musky scent of another alpha joined his in the cramped space as Cortez jumped lightly into the Kodiak.

“Oh, good, Steve. You're here,” he said, holding the offending stem in one hand and a fistful of red petals in the other. “I didn’t quite think this through and I lost half my petals under the floor grate, and then I tried just using the seats, but that just looks stupid, and I can’t find a recipe for tape on my omni-tool and everything we have down here will bond shit to the walls for months. Oh, and by the way, how do you feel about taking shore leave on a colony instead of the Citadel? I could ask Joker if you don’t want to do it, but I figured you’d rather not have him flying your bird.”

“Sounds more like you’ve lost your marbles, Shepard. What are you trying to do?” Steve asked again, kneeling down and deftly prying up one of the grates on the floor. Jake had spend half an hour trying to find the release for it.

“It’s Valentine’s Day on Earth. I want to do something special for Kaidan,” he said.

Steve scooped up a handful of pink and white petals and dropped them onto the seat beside him. “Never pegged you as a romantic, Shepard,” he teased before sobering. “It’s good to see you happy with someone. And you’ve done it twice now. Makes me hope that maybe someday, I can find it again, too, you know? So, yeah. I’ll help. Whatever you need.”

“Thanks,” he said, crouching beside him and helping retrieve the dropped petals.

“You know we’re going to be finding these things dried and coming out of the air vents for years, right?” Cortez asked.

“Yep,” Jake agreed.

It was Cortez who thought of a solution that made Jake feel stupid for not having come up with it himself. They laid rubber mats over the floor of the shuttle and sprinkled the flower petals over it and the seats. Dr. Chakwas provided them with some medical tape to hang the pink and lavender streamers Jake had found on the Citadel when he’d gotten the roses. Cortez found a string of red emergency floor lights left over from the retrofit and strung them up around the overhead before wiring them into the power system to create a soft red glow that almost reminded Jake of the Collector attack, but was far enough away in context to be more romantic than not. Vega volunteered to keep Kaid distracted and talked him into a poker game in the lounge while the other two alphas worked.

They chatted comfortably as they did so, no longer feeling the need to compete with each other for the only omega on the ship now that Jake had thoroughly trounced Vega and was certain that Cortez didn’t have his sights set on Kaid. Steve was a good guy and it was nice to have someone who understood what it was like to try to move on from losing a mate. He hadn’t allowed many friends in his life since that horrible day when the batarians found him and his baseball team on the bus returning to their settlement.

“Didn’t think we’d actually get another shore leave so soon,” Cortez said. “I didn’t think you’d stop for much short of official orders telling you to. You don’t rest much.”

Jake shrugged, carrying a cooling unit onto the shuttle and securing it near the seats. Batarian shard wine wasn’t the champagne he’d been hoping for, but there _was_ a certain irony in celebrating this with the drink of his enemies. Enemies he’d thoroughly demolished. Between himself and the Reapers, there wouldn’t be enough left of the Hegemony for the slaving monsters to regroup. He only hoped that Markus and Kip had been dead long before the Reapers showed up.

“After Thessia and Sanctuary, it was important to let the crew get some R&R. We’ve been going almost non-stop since the Reapers arrived and we’re hitting the hardest targets and we’ve taken some hard hits. I need you guys at your best. You won’t be if you never stop to breathe. _Hint, hint._ ”

“Aye aye, sir,” Steve muttered good-naturedly. “I know you’re right. I still don’t know if I’ve fully let Robert go, but I plan to keep taking some time for myself.”

"Letting go of Robert doesn’t mean forgetting,” Jake said, wondering if he should have gotten balloons. Nah. That would be overkill. “I still remember Johnny. I still remember Seth. I still care about both of them. I still miss them. And that’s okay. What letting go means is that I no longer live my life for them. I’m not trying to die with them anymore. They’re gone and I’m still here. I have to keep living. And so do you. I don’t know why they’re gone. But I do know there’s a reason we’re still here. We get proof of that with every Reaper that falls.”

“You think there’s a god in charge of all this?” Steve asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know if I want there to be one or not. I just know there’s some kind of design to it, some purpose. And if we can find happiness in whatever time is left to us...what good does it do to turn away when it’s just a choice between the guaranteed pain of losing out on what you don’t choose to take when you have a chance and the possible pain of losing it if you do choose it? None of us know if we’re going to survive this. We can’t try to predict the future. We can only live in the now.”

“Is that what you’re doing with Kaidan?”

Jake thought of the small box tucked into his pocket and gave a wry smile. “Of course. We can’t predict the future, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still hope for it, right?”

“Hope,” Steve repeated with a huff somewhere between a laugh and a scoff. “I don’t know how you still have that.”

“If I didn’t hold onto at least a little bit of it in the midst of all the fear and despair, I’d have eaten a bullet a long time ago,” he said. “I’ve kept my head down and stayed stubbornly in the ‘now’, trying not to look back any more than I had to and refusing to look forward. Now, though, it’s still terrifying to look ahead, but Kaid gives me something to hope for and something personal to fight for. That’s worth some fear.”

 

~*~*~*~

 

“Eyes closed, Major,” Jake reminded Kaidan as they approached the shuttle. Jake’s hands were over Kaidan’s eyes and Jake’s chest pressed against his back, warm and strong, smoothly guiding him forward. Jake’s arms around him held him close, reassuring that he wouldn’t let him fall into the pit below the Kodiak.

“They’re closed…” he reassured the Alpha, amused. He hadn’t the foggiest idea what was going on right now; casualty reports from Earth were steady but staggering and the crumbs of information on his students did little to soothe his frayed mind over if they were ok or not. Too young, much too young to have to deal with this. His heart ached when they had received deployment orders and scattered like dust in the solar wind to the far reaches of the galaxy. They’d been more than just students to him; they were almost like his kids.

“Oh, good. Just making sure,” Jake said huskily against his ear. “Step up. I’ve got you.”

Kaidan leaned back a little into Jake’s arms as he cautiously stepped into the shuttle, not knowing where his feet were going to land. He felt a bit silly at how he was moving, but really, who else was going to see them. The Alpha’s wrist brushed his cheek and he pressed into it, nostrils flaring. The scent was muted now that they weren’t in heat and rut anymore, but still… it was enough to make the tiny flame in his stomach flicker and flare into a bigger fire that spread warmth through his body. _His_ Alpha. He could hardly believe the turn of events that led them to each other that fateful day in the observation lounge.

He felt Jake’s breath catch and the Alpha’s nose ghost behind his ear in response as they stepped up together. The shuttle floor was strangely smooth. His boots didn’t catch on the small divots in the grating designed to provide traction while the bird was flying. Instead, it felt solid. Jake’s lips brushed behind his ear and his hands dropped from his eyes.

“Now you can open them,” Jake whispered.

Warm, red light diffused the transformed bay of the shuttle, faint flowery whiffs threading through the typical metal, oil, and general funk the Kodiak had.  “Wait a minute…” he said, slow grin forming as he looked over the rose petals sprinkled around and the rubber mats on the floor. “What are you on about?”

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Kaid,” the Alpha said, sliding arms around his waist and swaying their bodies together. “We’re going to take a little trip.”  Kaidan rubbed his cheek against his partner’s, burrowing into his arms.

“Can’t hardly wait, babe.”

“Take a seat, then, _malish[1]_. We have wine and snacks for the trip, and Steve’s promised to close off the cockpit to give us privacy. Our own little world for the duration.” Jake directed him deeper into the shuttle, and the door slid closed behind them. True to his word, Cortez had slid a panel closed, shutting them off from the cockpit.

The omega’s ears turned pink at the tips as he settled into a jump seat and curled up under Jake’s arm. “Such service…” he murmured, lips brushing Jake’s neck as he tucked his nose under the Alpha’s jaw. “I don’t think anybody’s ever gone to such lengths to romance me before.”

“Yes, well. You deserve it, love.” Jake cuddled him close pressing his lips to Kaidan’s hair and stroking a hand down his arm. “You haven’t even asked where we’re going.”

“Judging by the set up, I’m going to guess some resort world that’s mostly untouched by the war, and that means probably something in the Terminus?  Merc raids are very romantic.” He toyed with one of the rose petals, brushing it over Jake’s lips and making the Alpha smile. “No. Azure Hotel on Illium. Right?” The sour look on Jake’s face made him chuckle. “I’m teasing. I figure it’s somewhere we can be in our own little world with each other, and that’s all I care about. I trust you.”

“It’s...not quite, but something like that.” Jake’s hand came up to cup his face. “I was thinking something a little bit more...intimate but not in the way you’re thinking.” Jake tugged Kaidan into his lap so that he was straddling him and wrapped his arms around Kaidan’s waist again. “I figured the way you’re thinking could happen here. And if I’m lucky, then afterward, too.”

Kaidan bit his lower lip and glanced shyly at the closed panel to the cockpit, ears turning pink again. Jake had a bit of a ‘devil may care’ streak that was just as intoxicating as his scent. “...Is that so, Alpha?” he replied coyly, sliding his arms around Jake’s shoulders and tucking his nose under his jaw again. “Think it’s sound proof? He’ll probably know what’s going on anyway, but…”

“I suppose you’ll just have to be quiet, won’t you, _malish_?” Jake teased, sliding his hands down to tuck in Kaidan’s back pockets. The dark-eyed man shivered, rolling his hips back to meet Jake’s hands.

“I suppose you’ll just have to have to make sure I am, won’t you, Alpha?” he teased right back, fumbling with the buttons on Jake’s pants. Audience be damned, the commander was downright irresistible. “Might need some help with my pants, too…”

 

~*~*~*~

 

Mindoir. Home. Jake had only been here once since the raid. He’d come to stand honor guard at the memorial a few years back. He knew what to expect this time and had managed to place everything the first time before crawling back to his hotel room with a bottle and a death wish. Kaid’s hand was warm in his, giving him a reassuring squeeze as they stepped off the shuttle and went in search of a skycar.

“If anything gets to be too much, it’s fine to leave.  We can just stay in the hotel if we need to. I don’t need to sight-see if it’s too painful.”

“I want you to see it,” he said, returning the squeeze. “I want you to know where I came from. I...never brought Seth here.”  Kaidan pressed himself tight against Jake, possessive hum vibrating against the Alpha’s neck as Kaidan tucked his nose under Jake’s jaw.

“I want you to show me,” came the soft reply.

Jake’s arm tightened around him. “Like I said on Eden Prime, it isn’t the same. But I still think it’s important for you to see it, and...it’s still _home_.”

A few short minutes later, they’d found a skycar and were cruising through Dion, the settlement he’d grown up in. In the years since the raid, the colony had been rebuilt. New people had come to colonize. The few who’d managed to survive and escape the batarians had largely stayed away, but he’d heard that one or two had returned. But it had compacted, shrinking toward the center of town as if the residents believed there would be more safety in numbers if it happened again even though the population was reduced by almost half. There were defenses now, too. AA guns dotted the landscape. Walls surrounded the main parts of the city. Bunkers had been installed under the ground. If the batarians came back, they wouldn’t find a young colony full of hopeful, helpless farmers.

He pointed out the area he’d lived in with Mat in their rundown prefab, Kaidan interestedly craning his neck to look it over. On Earth, they’d have said he’d grown up ‘on the wrong side of the tracks,’ but now it was a thriving subdivision. The high school had been rebuilt where it stood, and Jake tried to think of Johnny running around the oval track or Mark kicking a black-and-white football, and not of Ronnie and Dustin and Jameson and the rest ribbing him in the dugout, or the bonfires that had burned on the baseball diamond where he’d spent so much of his childhood, or the bodies of his friends and teachers and neighbors being tossed on the flames.

His throat closed and he sped past the school, not slowing down until he was hovering over the remains of the Shepard and Malone properties. This part of town had always bordered on some of the best farmland. Instead of rebuilding the houses, they’d been torn down and the properties converted into fields. One thing remained that was familiar:  the tree where he and Johnny had carved their initials so long ago. He fought to maintain his composure as he put the car down on the edge of the field and got out, walking over to it in a daze.

The tree was gnarled and still bore the scars from the flames that had licked almost all the way to the house. Why the aliens hadn’t set fire to it, too, Jake had never learned. The house hadn’t survived the bulldozer, but the tree had. Its leaves still decorated the limbs. The initials carved in it were faint but still there. Strips on the backside had bark that still didn’t grow. Scarred and twisted and damaged it might be, but it was still here when everything else was gone.

Like him.

For years, Seth had begged and pleaded and even shouted at him to open up, to let him in, to _talk_ about what had happened to him. He couldn’t. Seth, for all of his size and his courage, had been soft and Jake had wanted to protect him. In the end, though, all he’d done was push him away and ultimately make him wonder if Jake cared enough to share his life with him. He’d died wondering that. Jake didn’t want to make the same mistake with Kaidan. With his hand covering the carved heart on the tree that looked like himself, Jake finally began to speak.

“After the raid, I thought my life was over. Everything I’d wanted, everything I’d hoped for, everything I’d planned, was gone. I’d thought that Johnny and I would graduate and go away to college together, then come home and start a family. We’d start a little tech business or something where Johnny could explore his ideas and make new, seemingly impossible things. And then I watched him die from thirty kilometers away. Much too far to do anything about it. The batarians found us, my baseball team and me. My best friends died on top of me. I felt their bodies cool.

“And then I made the thirty klick trip on foot, at night, alone with nothing but my baseball bat. I could see the glow of the flames before I could see the settlement. I forgot that there was a scent other than burning homes and burning people. I saw...things that even now, I don’t have a frame of reference for, things that still haunt me even with everything this war has thrown at us. I almost made it back home. I was in sight of the house when I got shot in the back.” He reached over his shoulder and tapped the trio of bullet wounds Kaidan’s fingers had skimmed over more than once.”  

The omega slid his hand up Jake’s shoulder to meet his hand now, giving him strength. Jake squeezed it, continuing in a hoarse voice. “I laid there for a full day before someone found me. Johnny’s big brother, who happened to look just like him. He kept me from bleeding out, but then he died, too. It was two more days before anyone else came. I couldn’t move, or didn’t want to. I could smell the bodies in the house. I’d felt Johnny die. I knew he was gone. I didn’t want to live.

“Then, I got sent to Earth. Atlanta. The Hayworth’s. I met Seth. He...helped me keep it together. Kept me from going insane and ending it all. He became my best friend, and then he went into heat and I responded and he responded and...things were awkward between us for awhile afterward, but he finally told me that he loved me.

“We bonded. It took me longer than it did him to get to the point where I was ready because I felt like I was betraying Johnny, but we eventually did. We made plans, too. We were both in the Alliance. We were going to stay in and seek adventure together, be heroes together, until we were ready to retire. Then we’d expand his family’s restaurant offworld and live out our days somewhere warm and sunny.”

“And then Akuze,” Kaidan said softly, stroking a reassuring hand down his arm.

Jake nodded. “And then Akuze. All I could think about was getting Seth out of there. I’ve never been so afraid in my life, not even on Mindoir. After I realized the maws were literally _eating us_ , I lost it. I didn’t care about the rest of the squad. They could follow or not. I was getting Seth off that hellrock. We almost made it. We were _at_ the extraction point. And then the ground rumbled and opened and you’ve seen the way they come up. I yanked Seth’s hand...and only half of him came with me, and all of our plans were finished.

“Since then, I haven’t looked forward anymore. I don’t plan beyond the next mission. I’ve just gone from one to the next. Until you.” His fingers traced the carving in the tree before he turned to face Kaidan again. “I’ve been afraid to think of planning anything with you because I’m terrified of losing you, too, but then I realized that if I lose you _now_ , it’ll be the death of me. So then, why hold back and lose something that could be everything I’ve ever wanted?”

He stepped forward and took Kaidan’s hands in his own, looking down at them. The omega inhaled sharply, scarcely daring to breathe. “But that depends on whether you want it, too. Kaidan, I love you. You know as well as I do that neither of us knows whether we’re going to make it through this, but I want to spend whatever time I have left with you, whether that’s a matter of days or decades.” He drew the box from his pocket and sank down to a knee, opening it to show the metal band inside, grateful that his hands didn’t tremble. “Bond with me, Kaid?”

The omega dropped down to his knees in front of Jake, dark eyes shining with unshed tears, hands gripping Jake’s tightly. “Yes,” he whispered, cuddling next to him, nose under his jaw. “The answer is ‘yes’.”

“Oh, thank god,” Jake breathed, wrapping his arms tightly around the other man. He peppered kisses over his face and hair, cupping Kaid’s cheeks in his hands. “I love you, Kaidan. I’ll spend the rest of my life taking care of you. I’ll keep you safe. I don’t know how, but I’ll keep you safe.”

“Love you, too,” came the awed whisper in response. “Yours. Totally and completely yours, Jake.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] Baby


	3. MShenko: Terran Murder Babies, aka Cupid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Kaidan turned a certain tall, dark, and handsome human soldier into a werewolf on Torfan, he hadn't anticipated doing anything more than saving his life. But when sparks started flying, he wasn't going to put them out. The ride is a crazy one, but Valentine's Day gives them an excuse to slow down and enjoy it.

Piano music drifted quietly through the hallway in the officer’s bloc of the werewolf housing on Arcturus as Mark locked his apartment and made his way the few doors down the hallway to Kaidan’s at the end of the row, hands stuffed in his hoodie’s pocket and hood pulled up, eyes down.  His scars from Torfan were healed by now, and most of his neighbors managed to not focus on them too terribly much whenever he crossed their paths, but he still didn’t like calling attention to them if he could help it; thank whatever deity was out there that the red glow from his cybernetic eyes was starting to fade and be overtaken by the familiar blue they’d been before- _before._  

Eli’s eyes were the same blue.  He’d had a vid call with him before Kaidan had texted him and asked him to ‘stop by for dinner, just bring yourself and be comfortable :)’, and his son was growing up to look more and more like him every time he saw him, even though he was still somewhat frightened of him.  Ah well. Mark couldn’t really blame him. Last Eli knew, Mark’d been deployed and come back the stuff of nightmares with the scars and demon eyes to match. Thank god the Alpha had been there that one time to stop him from shifting in front of him. That would have destroyed any chance of salvaging his relationship with his son, and give his ex-wife and bondmate the ammo she needed to permanently keep Eli away from him.

He knocked on the door, shoulders relaxing slightly as the smell of pack and his creator washed over him: vanilla, musk, and clove, with an underpinning of ‘Alpha male’ that simultaneously soothed him and made his stomach flutter all at once.   

“It’s open!” the familiar husky voice called through the door.  Mark entered, nostrils flaring as the scent grew stronger when he crossed the threshold.  The other man was sitting at the upright piano in the corner of his living room, moving with the music as his hands danced over the keyboard.  It didn’t surprise Mark to see how into playing Kaidan got; he closed his eyes and let it flow over him as he played, music seeming to pour out of his soul through his hands and onto the keys.  He always liked watching Kaidan when he got into it like that.

“Hi there,” Kaidan said, glancing over at him with a warm smile.

“Hey…” he replied softly, looking at him shyly from his hood, cheeks going hot.  The flutter in his stomach was strong enough to make him pause, tugging surreptitiously at his jeans in the back.  To the Alpha’s credit, his nostrils flared only slightly and he otherwise ignored it. That was something he was still getting used to; when he’d been a human Alpha himself, the only time he got a damp ass was when he was in tropical conditions on assignment or after a particularly hard workout.  Now that he was a fairly new omega werewolf, the change had been startling to discover and annoying to deal with because he literally couldn’t hide his attraction to Kaidan from the start. It became much less annoying once they started getting physical and he particularly didn’t mind it when it was the two of them privately now.  

“Make yourself at home,” the Alpha nodded at the couch and turned back to playing, closing his eyes again as he let the music move him.  Mark toed off his boots by the door and moved further into the apartment, brow furrowing as he took in the unusual trappings of the room.  A holo fire in the grate mounted to the wall, roses on the coffee table, and a carafe of pinot noir next to a pair of wine glasses on top of the piano.  Candles gave a warm glow to the room they were scattered around and Mark cautiously settled on the end of the couch closest to Kaidan, tucking his feet up under him.

“What’s all this?”

“It’s Valentine’s Day back on Earth,” Kaidan said, finishing the piece and turning to straddle the bench so that he could look at him. “I thought we could celebrate. I wanted to do something nice for you since, you know, we haven’t really had time for a real date yet.”

“...is it a dead giveaway that I don’t know what that is if I say, ‘What’s Valentine’s Day?’”  He couldn’t help an embarrassed, pleased grin from spreading across his freshly reheated cheeks.  “I’m impressed at it all, babe...damn. You really outdid yourself.” He leaned on the back of the couch, watching his partner’s smile widen.

“I’m glad you like it. Valentine’s Day’s a primarily commercial holiday, honestly, but the purpose is for couples to celebrate being together. Love, hearts, flowers, candy, that kind of thing. I thought the baby Cupid in a cloth diaper with a bow and arrow hanging from the ceiling might be a bit much, though,” he finished playfully.

“Do what in the _what_ now?” Mark asked, glancing up at the ceiling in concern.  Thankfully there was no baby armed to the teeth in a diaper laying in wait to attack them.  He laughed as he looked at Kaidan again, holding out a hand to him. “Terran traditions are so weird… you’ll have to educate me on the pagan ways.”

“I’ll do that,” Kaidan chuckled and took his hand, coming to sit beside him on the couch. The Alpha leaned slightly toward him, sliding his hand up Mark’s forearm.

“Mm.  See that you do,” he gave an amused huff back, hooking his index finger in Kaidan’s belt loop, cocking his head to the side after a moment to offer his throat and resting it against the couch, hood gaping and showing his scars to the room.  It was getting easier to remember small gestures of submission to the Alpha the more time they spent together and the more Kaidan schooled him in the differences between their species. Some things translated well enough and he could guess from some of what Amie had done and acted like while they had been together.  Kaidan helped guide him and remind him when it didn’t, though, and some days it was a real struggle to go against behaviors he’d had ingrained in him as an Alpha human. Thankfully Kaidan was patient and forgiving.

“Feisty omega,” Kaidan teased good-naturedly, leaning in slowly to trail his nose along the side of Mark’s exposed neck, his lips brushing over his skin. “You smell divine, babe. Did you do something different? I mean, you always smell _good_ , but...feeling a little less anxiety, maybe?” The Alpha kissed behind his ear. “Mark Shepard, did I manage to actually make you _happy_?” he teased.

Mark shivered and moved into him, ears and cheeks thoroughly flaming at the gentle ribbing.  He shifted on the couch, trying to get his pants to stop clinging to his ass. “Well, I _did_ shower today.  Just for you. So, y’know.  Feel special.”

“Oooh. A shower. Very nice,” the other man chuckled.

“That right there should show you how high you rate,” he replied softly.  He slid his free hand along Kaidan’s thigh, careful not to go beyond and grab his ass.  He didn’t particularly appreciate that himself when he was an Alpha and tolerant as Kaidan was, he didn’t want to push him any more than he already did with blunders.  “I’m surprised and taken aback, and what _is_ this, Kaidan, affection?  I dunno what to do with it…” he teased back.

“Tradition. I can’t help it. It’s legally required as part of the holiday,” Kaidan informed him, sliding a hand along his jaw, careful of his scars and not to grip his head. The Alpha brushed a soft kiss over his lips before rubbing the tips of their noses together. “You’ll just have to deal with it.”

“All in the name of tradition, then.”  Mark closed his eyes and rubbed back, taking a moment to yank his hood the rest of the way down.  Affection flooded him as he tipped his head and pressed a soft kiss on the other man’s lips; as careful as he was being not to push Kaidan, Kaidan returned it in kind, being mindful of trying to avoid dominance displays and actions that triggered Mark’s latent alpha instincts.  He was thankful they were fading the more time went on. He still didn’t think he’d ever live down the time they’d been getting hot and heavy and he didn’t even think about it, he gripped the back of Kaidan’s neck out of habit and that had brought everything to a screeching halt.  After many apologies and much cuddling, all ruffled feathers had been smoothed, but he was still kicking himself over that. It was as much a difference between human and were as it was Alpha and omega. But they were still learning each other and still finding their balance, and for that, Mark was grateful.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Kaidan said softly, cocking his head a bit as he took in the sight of him. Mark could almost see him in wolf form with the tips of his ears touching in the middle the way they did when he was considering or curious about something. “I’m glad you came.”

“Hi…” he whispered, shy again as he rested his head on Kaidan’s shoulder, relaxing against him.  “...’m glad, too. Needed this.” He squirmed a little closer to him, long legs making it a bit awkward as he rearranged them.  Kaidan shifted to allow him to tuck comfortably up under his arm. “...Eli’s still a bit distant. But at least he’s not tryin’ to immediately get off the call as much any more.  Ah well.”

The Alpha started to rub his cheek over Mark’s close-cropped hair, but stopped after only a second.  Instead, he rumbled soothingly in his chest. “He’ll come around, baby. I know it has to be frustrating and heartbreaking, but you’re doing the right thing by giving him time and letting him adjust at his own pace.”

Mark sighed, leaning further into Kaidan’s arms and rubbing his own cheek against the Alpha’s jaw and neck.  It never felt so comfortable and natural before now, and now he couldn’t imagine not seeking comfort from him.  “I know… thanks for sayin’ it anyway. It’s good to hear reminders.”

“He’s a bright kid. He just needs time. You’ll see. You’re his dad; that means you’re his hero, even if he does need to get used to your new form,” Kaidan reassured him, giving his shoulders a gentle squeeze.

“Monster-form, accordin’ to him.”  He kissed Kaidan’s throat. “Aaaaaand I probably just killed the mood.  So. Murderous diaper babies are a symbol of love? You’ll have to explain that one to me, _Alpha_ ,” he teased, sliding a hand onto Kaidan’s hip.

Kaidan made a pleased sound that was almost a purr deep in his chest even as he raised an eyebrow at Mark’s attempt at deflection. “We aren’t monsters,” he said firmly. “He’ll figure that out.” He shook his head slightly before shifting closer, slipping a hand around Mark’s waist. “As to the murderous diaper baby, no clue. Pretty sure Cupid was an ancient god of love, but I don’t know how he went from being a god to being a cherub or whatever he is now. I don’t know much about human religions except that they seem to like babies in cloth diapers as symbols of things.”

“Pff.  His PR team needs to get with the times and update.  Give ‘im a rocket launcher or somethin’. Keep him relevant.”  Mark sighed again, more at ease than before. Having Kaidan wrapped around him and his scent enveloping him had the neat effect of making everything right in the world.  “What do y’all do in particular on Valentine’s Day? Besides go balls to the wall with romantic decorations?”

Kaidan gave him a wry grin and shook his head. “I...don’t exactly know. I’ve never had a mate or a partner before. This is about as far as I got with the plan to romance you.”

“I’d say it’s workin’,” he said quietly, moving Kaidan’s hand to his hip and brushing his lips on the Alpha’s neck again.  “...never had anybody do anythin’ like this for me before. It’s...nice.”

“I was, of course, going to make you dinner,” Kaidan said, sliding his hand into the back of Mark’s pants, his fingers slipping through the slick coating his skin. “And then I thought perhaps _you_ wouldn’t mind being dessert.”

Mark’s ears flamed and he bit his lower lip in anticipation as he pressed himself back on the Alpha’s hand.  “Murder baby be damned, but I’m not really hungry for food right now.”

“Life’s short, right? Eat dessert first. Isn’t that what you say?” Kaidan teased, his fingers toying with him.

“Me?   _Fuck_ …” the omega breathed, shuddering as he rolled himself along the other man.  “Can’t really, uh… _think_ right now.  With you doin’.  What you’re doin’ there.   _Scheisse_ …”

“I _definitely_ want dessert first,” the Alpha said huskily, dragging out each word as he slid off of the couch and crouched between Mark’s legs, his fingers tugging at the button of Mark’s jeans. “We’ll just have to make our own Valentine’s traditions….”

Mark couldn’t think past Kaidan’s mouth on him to respond as he lost himself to the sensations.  If this was what Terran murder babies demanded to have their holiday celebrated, there was zero reason to deny them.


End file.
